India logged 36,571 new coronavirus infections, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,23,58,829, while the national recovery rate improved to 97.54 per cent, the highest since March 2020, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The death toll climbed to 4,33,589 with 540 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The active cases have declined to 3,63,605, the lowest in 150 days, and comprise 1.12 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, the ministry said.

A reduction of 524 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

As many as 18,86,271 tests were conducted on Thursday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 50,26,99,702.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.94 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for the last 25 days.

The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.93 per cent. It has been below three per cent for the last 56 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,15,61,635, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, the data stated.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

Cumulatively, 57.22 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered under the nationwide vaccination drive till Friday morning.

The 540 new fatalities include 197 from Kerala and 154 from Maharashtra.

A total of 4,33,589 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,35,567 from Maharashtra, 37,088 from Karnataka, 34,639 from Tamil Nadu, 25,079 from Delhi, 22,789 from Uttar Pradesh, 19,246 from Kerala and 18,337 from West Bengal.

The ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.